The Ataris
Welcome the Night

Let's say you, an artist with your album ready in hand, see that it hasn't seen the light for two years due to a record label wanting it to be more commercial and sellable, ex-members demanding a good slice of the pie, and other such issues, well admit it, you'd feel a bit frustrated.

After an endless gestation and almost total upheaval of the band's line-up, The Ataris return to the music scene with this "Welcome The Night", following, a good five years later, the acclaimed (at least by the American audience) "So Long, Astoria", which represented for the group the definitive consecration in the eyes of the fabulous mainstream universe but also simultaneous accusations from the hardcore fan base of selling out by heavily simplifying their sound. And, indeed, it would be impolite to disagree with them: while there were some tracks that, despite their plastic melodies, managed to stick in the listener's head, "So Long, Astoria" was overly simplistic, offering melodies that were too pop-like. From a group that started out playing old-school melodic hardcore punk so well that they were taken under the wing of authority figures like Joe Escalante of the Vandals, such a shift could indeed seem like an affront to their old fans.

Different story. Let's see how "Welcome The Night" is then. As mentioned a few lines above, the band's line-up is practically entirely new: the only holdovers from the members who played on "So Long, Astoria" are the frontman Kris Roe, the true soul of the band (and the only original member of the group), and guitarist John Collura; they are joined by second guitarist Paul Carabello, bassist Sean Hansen, drummer Shane Chikeles, keyboardist Bob Hoag, and cellist Angus Cooke, already an appreciated producer. So today, The Ataris present a line-up of no less than seven members.

Right from the first track, also the first single released from the album, "Not Capable of Love", you can notice the decisive change of direction of the (new) sextet. The melodies are no longer the whiny emo-pop ones of Astoria, but rather darker and more reflective. Roe, who as mentioned earlier is the true brainchild of the combo, this time opts to favor atmospheres closer to alternative indie rock. The singing is no longer blatantly melodic, Kris's voice tone drops significantly, almost midway between any indie-rock singer (Interpol comes to mind) and Robert Smith; the comparison with The Cure's singer fits also in terms of interpretation, resembling him on more than one occasion. A good portion of the tracks hit the mark (in addition to the aforementioned Not Capable Of Love, among the best episodes are Cheyenne Line, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, and Connection Are More Dangerous Than Lies), despite some tonal drops (like the awkward New Year's Day), mainly reminiscences of the band's recent catchy past . Indeed, a certain lack of uniformity is felt, or rather, an imbalance between past and present, between punk and new rock atmospheres. For this reason, the album is probably just a test of what Roe truly wants from his musicians, a temporary stop in anticipation of the emergence of the true, "new", Ataris; by the way, the incoming members (pardon the obvious double entendre!!!) seem better equipped than their predecessors: the album seems well-played, probably thanks also to the high-end production by the major label Universal, which had rejected Roe's work on more than one occasion, threatening to lock it away in a tight drawer forever.

I've read everything about this album, some praise it, others tear it apart. As often happens, however, the truth lies somewhere in between. Not a masterpiece, not trash, just a transitional album for a band going through a period of renewal. The songwriter and frontman is maturing and changing his way of writing, and his band needs time to gel. A commendable attempt to radically change their style to reach something completely new. That's how "Welcome The Night" should be seen.